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Cambodian ban long overdue, say human rights groups

Monday, 17 October 2011 10:43am

©The Star (Used by permission)
by P. ARUNA

PETALING JAYA: Cambodia’s ban on sending its domestic workers to Malaysia is long overdue, said human rights groups.

Describing it as a responsible step by the Cambodian Government to protect its citizens, they said it should also serve as a “wake up” call to Malaysians.

“We must ask why this is happening again,” said Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director Ivy Josiah.

She said it was important for Malaysia to set a standard contract for all its domestic workers.

“They should have the same working hours and standard minimum wages.

“It should not depend on how poor they are,” she said, adding that Cambodia also needed to deal with its own recruitment agencies which were sending underaged girls to serve as maids.

Suhakam Commissioner James Nayagam said the ban should be extended until a proper system was established between both Governments to ensure the maids were not exploited by both recruitment agencies and employers.

“Cambodia needs to set its requirements on the major issues like work hours, off days and penalties for unscrupulous agents before lifting the ban,” he said.

Tenaganita executive director Dr Irene Fernandez said it was important that the Government addressed the legal issues related to the Employment Act.

“We cannot just move from country to country to source for maids instead of addressing the real problem,” she said, adding that Tenaganita had received 61 cases of abuse of Cambodian maids as of July this year.

An employer from Selangor said Cambodia should be flexible over the issue, pointing out that many Malaysian families had trouble even communicating with their Cambodian maids.

“Most of the time, our maid could not carry out her tasks efficiently as she did not understand what we told her to do in the first place.

“Their culture is also very different from ours,” he said.

Meanwhile, a disgruntled employer urged Cambodia to back up with statistics its allegations that Malaysians abused their maids.

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